Stuck
by ellkayjay
Summary: Cal and Torres get stuck in an elevator, and things get a little heated. It's my first go at writing fanfic, so please give me a chance! And don't hate me for going against the norm of Cal/Gillian. I like this pairing, even if it will never happen!


A/N: This is my first attempt at a fanfic, and I chose to go with a ship that I enjoy, and that is Cal/Ria. I know it's not popular, and that everyone else wants Cal/Gillian, but I like it and thought I'd give it a go. It's very short because it's my first one, so please let me know what you think, and what I can improve!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, or anything to do with Lie to Me.

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"What floor do we need?" Torres asked Cal as they entered the elevator.

"Fourteenth, I think. Yeah," he said, looking at the paperwork, "Mr. Aaron Davis, fourteenth floor."

Torres pressed the button and turned to Cal. "So how are we doing this? Together?"

"Yes, together usually works best, don't you think?" Cal said, looking at her. Torres looked back, but his face, as usual, gave nothing away. Very occasionally she got the idea that he was flirting, but she could never tell, and he was far too good at what he did to give himself away. She chose to ignore his comment and simply smiled.

Cal noted her lack of a reaction, and had to hide a smile. He knew it was not the most professional way to behave, but he enjoyed playing.

Suddenly the elevator came to a stop, but the doors did not open.

"What's going on?" Torres asked, instantly panicking. The idea of spending any amount of time in a small enclosed space was bad enough, but with Cal? She could not think of anything worse right now.

"Calm down love, it's only been thirty seconds. Don't instantly assume we're stuck in here for the long haul."

Twenty minutes later, after a call to the maintenance crew through the elevator's intercom system, and they still weren't on the move. Torres was getting bored. It was not that she was claustrophobic, per se, she just did not like the idea of being in here for too long. She knew that one of Cal's favourite hobbies was analyzing the people around him, and she did not want him to start with her.

"So what's the problem, Torres? Claustrophobia?" Cal asked her.

Oh great, she thought. Here we go. "Not as such, no. I just don't particularly relish the idea of being stuck in an elevator for any amount of time."

"Well, no, does anyone? But you seemed… panicked, not just irritated. Although, I expect it's the company. Give you George Clooney or Brad Pitt to get stuck with; you'd be in your element right?" Cal was not sure why he had picked those names out of the air. They were generally considered heartthrobs, right?

"Excuse me?" Torres said, sitting down on the floor of the elevator. She knew it could be a while before they were rescued, and it looked as though Cal was beginning with his games. "George Clooney? No thanks! Not my type at all, nor is Brad Pitt." She was telling the truth, those men really did not appeal to her.

"Unlike, say, Loker?" Cal ventured, taking a seat beside her and watching her face for any betrayal of her feelings.

"Loker?" Torres could not keep the surprise from her face. "Eli Loker? What on earth made you say that?"

"Well, he obviously fancies you, he said so. And you work closely with him, I've seen you together. I just assumed that there was something there." Cal was saying the words, but he did not believe them. He had seen the look of surprise on her face, she had not even tried to hide it.

"No! He's like a goofy older brother. There's absolutely nothing more than that between us. Anyway, he's, what, 30, 31? He's a little younger than the type of guy I usually go for." Even as the words were coming out of her mouth, Torres knew she was making a mistake. She was basically telling him that she went for older guys, which admittedly, was something he may have already picked up on, given that, at 38, Karl Dupree had been a good 15 years her senior. But, recently, there had been this tension between her and Cal that she was trying to ignore. And now she had basically told him that he was just about right in terms of the age of her ideal man.

"Really – you go for the older man?" Cal did nothing to hide the intrigue on his face, and watched for her reaction to his own reaction. She was good, he gave her that. Nothing on her face gave away what she was thinking.

"Yeah, I guess it's Psych 101 when you think about it. Daddy issues." Torres did not really know why she had brought that up. She never talked about her dad, only with Cal the one time when he had pushed her. And now she was bringing it up as a way to cover what she was really thinking. And that was that Cal was, in many ways, her ideal man – an older man in a position of power. And now she was in dangerous territory, because she doubted she could keep all of that truth from showing itself right across her face.

Cal watched closely as she battled with herself, she really did quite well, but it was her pupils that gave her away. People could train themselves to control their micro-expressions, but control over the pupils was almost impossible. And the fact that Torres' had just dilated gave her away. Arousal. Her eyes moved down from his eyes, very briefly to his lips, and then shot away to the doors as they finally opened.

"Aha! Finally!" she said, to cover the awkward moment. She scrambled to her feet and left the elevator.

"Well that was fun," he muttered to himself as he got to his feet. "We must do it again sometime." And he too left the elevator, a wry grin on his face.


End file.
